Carpet installation tool

ABSTRACT

A device adapted for removable securement to a carpet installer&#39;&#39;s tack hammer, thereby converting the tack hammer by reason of the contour and configuration of the device into a tool having utility in urging carpets in a desired manner; the device comprising one end segment capable of being releasably secured to the tack hammer and, integral therewith, a curved blade-like projection adapted for contact with the carpet in the region desirably manipulated or urged in a particular manner or direction.

United States Patent Krell 1 1 Jul 17, 1973 CARPET INSTALLATION TOOL Primary ExaminerGranville Y. Custer, Jr. ['76] Inventor: Leonard C. Krell, 5847 Secor Rd., Ass'stam Exammer Roscoe Parker Toledo, Ohio 43623 AttorneyPaul F. Stutz [22] F1led: l)ec. 30, 1.970 [57] ABSTRACT [21-] Appl l02793 A device adapted for removable securement to a carpet installers tack hammer, thereby converting the tack 52], US. Cl. 7/8, 145/29 A hammer y reason of the contour and configuration of [51] Int. Cl 325i 1/02 the vi in o a tool having utility in urging carpets in 58 Field of Search 7/8, 8.1; 145/29 A, a desired manner; the d i ompri ng one end segv 145 3; 294 5 ment capable of being releasably secured to the tack hammer and, integral therewith, a curved blade-like [56] Refe n s Cit d projection adapted for contact with the carpet in the UNITED STATES PATENTS region desirably manipulated or urged in a particular 1,180,405 4/1916 Levering"; 7/s.1 R dlrect'on 4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures CARPET INSTALLATION TOOL The present invention relates to the field of carpet installation and more particularly to a novel tool device of utility therein.

The tool of the present invention is an adapter device which is designed to be removably secured to the wellknown and essentially universally used carpet installers tack hammer and, in its secured condition, transform the tack hammer to a carpet manipulating tool.

In the installation of carpet over a floor surface, it is important that the carpet be stretched from edge to edge and reliably secured to the floor along the edge region so that the carpet will not shift and move by reason of the traffic of people or movement of things about the room on which floor the carpet is laid.

Conventionally, the carpet is stretched either by hand or with mechanical stretch devices to the desired degree of tautness, whereupon the installer or a team thereof secures the carpet or rug along the marginal edge adjacent the contiguous vertical wall by hammering a plurality of carpet tacks through the carpet into the floor along the margin. The installation of carpets with tacks has some drawbacks. Amongst these are cos'tliness of installation, frequent unreliability of the permanence of the tack and unevenness in the tautness of the carpet, resulting in wrinkles and also'creating stress and wear regions.

To overcome the difficulties encountered with the conventional tack-secured carpet; there has been adopted a method of so-called tackless installation. In this method, a linear strip of wood or like material is secured to the floor along the marginal edges and spaced just slightly from the adjacent wall. This linear strip is of a thickness or height equivalent to about the thickness or height of the carpet underlay and has along its length a plurality of pointed nail-like elements projecting upwardly from its upper surface and slightly toward the contiguous wall. The carpet, which is cut to approximate size, is urged in a manner that the extreme edge abuts the wall and the adjacent region, and particularly the underside is pushed down to be engaged by the nail or tack-like elements. The opposite margin of the carpet is then stretched either by hand or with a stretching mechanical aid and the carpet is urged down into the like crack or crevice between a strip and the contiguous wall. To date, there is no device available or marketed which the carpet installer can conveniently manipulate in applying the even force necessary to urge the carpet down into the crack or crevice between the strip and the wall so the carpet will engage the carpet engaging projections.

A very similar technique to that described is employed in installing carpets on stair steps. For ease in understanding, reference may be had at this point to FIGS. 6 and 7 of the attached drawings, wherein the technique of installation described hereinabove is illustrated in FIG. 6 and the similar type of installation with reference to a stair step is illustrated in FIG. 7 much more clearly and pictorially than can be done by repeating the foregoing description in the environment of a stair step installation. One difference that may be noted is that a strip bearing downwardly projecting nail-like elements is additionally secured to the vertical face or vertical rise surface of the step. With this arrangement, the carpet, when urged down into the crack or crevice between the just-described strip and the strip secured along the horizontal surface of the step, is very reliably secured along the convergence of the horizontal surface of the step and the vertical rise surface thereof, preventing thereby shifting of the carpet by reason of the walking contact of individuals as they progress up and down the stairs, which understandably subjects the carpeting to considerable stress.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a tool device which is ideally adapted for the task of assisting a carpet installer in urging the carpet in the manner described so that it will be uniformly wedged in the desired manner for securement by the carpet-engaging nail-like elements.

It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a tool as described which is in the nature of a conversion device adapted for releasable securement to an existing well-known and readily available tool, specifically the carpet installers tack hammer.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device which is quite small and is therefore quite convenient for the user, considering space limitations of the variety of equipment used in installing carpets.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a device which is easily secured and unsecured from the carpet-installers tack hammer and yet is reliable in terms of its securement.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such a device which is relatively inexpensive, of relatively simple design and thus adapted for convenient manufacture employing a variety of materials.

The foregoing and, as well, other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction. with the annexed sheet of drawings on which there are presented, for purposes of illustration only, several views of the tool device of the present invention together with schematic illustrations of the employment of the device in the manner described.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a three-quarter perspective view of the conventional tack hammer employed by carpet installers;

FIG. 2 is a three-quarter perspective view of the head part of the tool device;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of two complementary half sleeve members which serve to provide reliable and maintainable securement of the tool device onto the tack hammer;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view, partly in section, of the tack striking portion of the tack hammer with the tool device secured or mounted generally securely but releasably thereon;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the carpet contacting head portion of the adapter taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic side elevation view illustrating a typical carpet installation at the edge region proximate the convergence of a wall and floor and showing the tool in operative relationship with the carpet; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view similar to FIG. 6 showing,

.in a similar manner, a carpet installation upon a stairway.

Basically, the present invention envisions a carpet contacting head member including a blade-shaped fore end and an integral cylindrical aft end having an internal bore adapted to receive the tack striking head of a carpet installers tack hammer and a pair of half cylinder sleeve or ring members of particular configuration adapted to fit within the bore referred to and also to snugly and conjointly encircle the neck portion of the tack hammer behind the tack striking head, lending re liable nonshifting securement by reason of a pair of Allen head set screws engaging the sleeve halves through the aft end.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 the conventional and wellknown carpet installers tack hammer 11 having a handle 12 at one end and at the other end a transverse linear head 13 which is bisected generally by its securement with the handle at the region 14; the head having one end 15 notched as at 16 and thereby of utility as a tack remover and the other end 17 being flared outwardly to terminate in a flat head constituting the striking surface for contact with tacks.

In FIG. 2, a unitary member 20 is composed of a hollow cylindrical aft end 21, having a bored recess as at 22 and having secured to the opposite end a curvilinearly shaped blade-like head 23. This blade-like extremity is of a thickness measuring about one-fourth to five-eighths inches in thickness and has a curved forward edge 24. As shown in FIG. 2, the aft end 21 is provided with opposed threaded holes 25 and 25a in which are threadingly mounted a pair of Allen head set screws. The holes 25 and 25a are drilled and tapped transverse to the axis of the bored cylinder end 21. The Allen head set screws are identified by the reference numeral 26.

In FIG. 3 are shown a pair of half sleeves and 31 which are of identical configuration. These half sleeve members 30 and 31 have a length approximately equal to the length of the cylindrical end 21 of the member 20 and their outer surfaces 32 are perfectly cylindrical to match matingly and congruently with the inner surfaces 27 (FIG. 2) of the bore 22 in the cylindrical aft end 21. The inner surfaces 33 of the members 30 and 31 are machined to match the outer surface contour of the tack hammer in the neck region 17a (FIG. 1). It will be appreciated that facing surfaces 30a on the half sleeves 30 and 31 do not assume abutting contact when secured onto the neck of the tack hammer. Rather, the sleeves are dimensioned so that there is a slight space between these faces to allow full tightening of the sleeves into firm surface abutment with the neck portion of the tack hammer head.

Most preferably, in accordance with the present in vention, the half sleeve-like members 30 and 31 are formed of metal and are magnetized. By this expedient, the half sleeves 30 and 31 may be hand located in conjointly encircling relationship with the neck region 17a of the head of the tack hammer, that is, generally in the position shown in FIG. 4, with assurance they will stay in the position desired. Thereafter, the member 20, and specifically the bore 21, is slid telescopically over the flared end of the tack hammer until the face of the tack hammer 18 abuts the inner end of the cylindrical bore 22. The head 20 can be rotated until the elongate blade 23 is generally in alignment with the handle 12, whereupon the previously inserted set screws can be tightened in appropriate manner, securing the aft end 21 onto the half sleeve members 30 and 31, causing them to squeeze into secure surface abutment with the neck region of the tack hammer head.

The employment of two opposed Allen head set screws has been found to be sufficient and desirable,

although more than that number may be employed if desired.

The combination of the flush abutment of the face of the tack hammer head 18 and the inner surface 40 of the bore 22 and the securement provided by the appropriately and congruently machined inner surfaces of the half cylinder members 30 and 31, coupled with the set screw engagement, cooperate to provide a very reliable and steady securement of the tool 20 onto the tack hammer head. The user is thus supplied in a very short time and with little effort with a very familiarly shaped hand operable tool which has, as its working end, a curved tomahawked-shaped, relatively thin blade which can be manipulated by the user very advantageously to accomplish the movement and urgement of the carpet into the crack or crevice to engage the tack strip as described in the practice of the tackless installation technique.

The latter is schematically illustrated in FIG. 6 in the case of securing the marginal edge portion of a carpet in the region proximate the convergence of the vertical wall and the horizontal floor. The wall 50 and the floor 51 come together at 52; the wall 50 bearing a mopboard strip 53. Reference numeral 54 identifies a linear tack strip which is secured to the floor and is spaced away from the mopboard, leaving a linear crevice 55. The tack strip has upstanding nail-like or tack-like elements 56 which, as indicated, extend upwardly and are slightly inclined towards the adjacent wall 50. The carpet is identified by the reference numeral 60. As shown in FIG. 6, the carpet lies on the floor with an end segment 61 upturned against the vertical wall 50. The tack hammer 11 held by the user in a familiar manner is manipulated so that the head 20 and the blade 23 is urged against the carpet and along the region overlying the crevice; the handle and blade being generally aligned with the length of the crevice 55 in order that consider able pressure can be transferred from the biceps and forearrnthrough the wrist and hand of the installer to the handle and thence to the blade 23. The manipulation continues so that the blade head 23 runs along the length of the crevice, forcing the carpet downwardly into the crevice. As can be readily envisioned, the inclined nail-like elements engage the carpet and prevent the edge from being shifted or moved away from the wall 50 as might otherwise occur due to the force of pedal locomotion of people walking on the carpet.

In FIG. 7, a length of carpet 60 is shown laid loosely extending up a set of stairs; the crevice 55, or actually the plurality of crevices 55, being defined at the intersection of the horizontal surface of the step and the vertical rise surface 71. In addition to the strip 54 which is secured to the horizontal surface of the step, there is secured to the vertical rise of the step a like strip 45a in spaced parallelism with the strip 45. The installer using the adapter tool installation device of the present invention simply hand manipulates the tool head into the position shown and exerts force against the carpet in the same manner as that illustrated in FIG. 6 to force the carpet in the direction indicated by the arrow A. With the carpet thus secured between strips 54 and 54a, its movement is essentially prevented by reason of the engagement of the nail-like elements on the strips 54 and 54a.

It will be appreciated that one of the advantageous features of the present invention is that the well-known and familiar tack hammer is capable of a dual function;

namely, its conventional function as a tack hammer and, by securement thereon of the adapter, the function of a carpet manipulating device.

It will be appreciated that a separate tool could well be designed. However, such would more than likely involve a different and somewhat unfamiliar type of a handle, thereby serving as a detraction as compared to the use of the adapter device of the present invention.

The adapter device 20 of the present invention may be formed of metal including steel, aluminum, brass or the like. The same is true of the half sleeve members 30 and 31. Under certain conditions, the head portion 20 and even thehalf sleeve members 30 and 31 can be formed of plastic, particularly of the high impact strength type such as the ABS type polymers. One such material is marketed under the trade name CYCO- LAC. These are formed of combination mixtures and copolymers and terpolymers of the acrylon-nitrilebutadiene-styrene system. It is preferred, however, that the half sleeve members 30 and 31 be formed of metal, particularly having in mind the ultimate embodiment wherein it is desired that these elements be magnetic in character to assist in the ease of assembly and reliability of placement along the neck portion of the hammer head.

The adapter tool device 20 of the present invention may be designed to embody a variety of configurations, particularly as to the blade portion 23. The arcuate configuration 24 and the rounded curved configuration at the ends thereof are desired, however, as avoidative of snags and grabbing as might occur with some loop type and high pile shag type carpets if there were sharp or definitely discernible corners present in the blade.

Modifications may be made in the design of the adapter tool which fall within the framework of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: 1. An adapter device for a tack hammer comprising: 1. a principal body member including: a. a head having a recessed bore for receiving the tack striking head of said tack hammer and b. a working end of curvilinear, blade-like configuration adapted for smooth contact with a carpet for deflection and urgement thereof into a narrow space,

2. a matching pair of half sleeve members, each having an inner surface generally complementary to the exterior surface of the neck region of said hammer head and an outer surface complementary to the inner surface of the recessed bore in said head i and 3. means for compressing said halves into secure surface abutting contact with said neck region.

2. An adapter device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said recessed bore includes an inner abutment wall having a surface adapted for surface abutment with the tack striking surface of said tack hammer.

3. An adapter device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said half cylinder insert members'are magnetized.

4. An adapter device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said recessed bore includes an inner abutment wall having a surface adapted for surface abutment with the tack striking surface of said tack hammer. 

1. An adapter device for a tack hammer comprising:
 1. a principal body member including: a. a head having a recessed bore for receiving the tack striking head of said tack hammer and b. a working end of curvilinear, blade-like configuration adapted for smooth contact with a carpet for deflection and urgement thereof into a narrow space,
 2. a matching pair of half sleeve members, each having an inner surface generally complementary to the exterior surface of the neck region of said hammer head and an outer surface complementary to the inner surface of the recessed bore in said head and
 3. means for compressing said halves into secure surface abutting contact with said neck region.
 2. a matching pair of half sleeve members, each having an inner surface generally complementary to the exterior surface of the neck region of said hammer head and an outer surface complementary to the inner surface of the recessed bore in said head and
 2. An adapter device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said recessed bore includes an inner abutment wall having a surface adapted for surface abutment with the tack striking surface of said tack hammer.
 3. An adapter device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said half cylinder insert members are magnetized.
 3. means for compressing said halves into secure surface abutting contact with said neck region.
 4. An adapter device as claimed in claim 3 wherein said recessed bore includes an inner abutment wall having a surface adapted for surface abutment with the tack striking surface of said tack hammer. 